TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO POST THAT THE HTC ONE CAMERA IS RUBBISH:
Look, I feel sorry for people who may have faulty HTC One's which don't give excellent picture quality, but MY HTC One takes brilliant pictures in daylight, twilight, lowlight, any light. Most peoples' do, the faulty ones are a very small minority. I have had 2 HTC Ones and both had perfect cameras (I accidentally killed one). I just thought I would say a few words to those who may be thinking about buying an HTC One, but have been put off by talk of the camera being sub-standard.
It ISN'T - it is an excellent camera. (If you don't believe me, ask Brian Klug at Anandtech: AnandTech | The HTC One Review)
Here's WHY:
Ultrapixels?
Some people have some strange ideas about good pictures and the effect megapixels/sensor size/pixel size on sensor have on taking a picture. Adrianb is correct in saying that ultrapixels have no bearing on the amount of light being delivered to the sensor; the light let in is controlled by the lens and the camera's aperture. But, for any given sensor size a certain number of light photons can be picked up by the pixels on the sensor. What HTC did, when they had space for a larger sensor, is, instead of cramming more small pixels on, they made the pixels larger. This means that each given pixel has more photons hitting it than, say, the Galaxy S3. Because of this, in a low-light situation, the light that is available will provide more photons to each pixel than a normal sensor, so it has better sensitivity which can be taken advantage of by the software.
BUT... MORE PIXELS = BETTER PICTURES, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT?
Well, no, not really. To be honest, the only reason why anyone really wants more pixels these days on a smartphone camera is for cropping (so you just take a photo in the rough direction of the subject and then cut the image down after). In other words, the photo you took wasn't well framed, or in some situations where light is good enough, you can use it to act like a digital zoom (this is what the Lumia 1020 does I think). Taking time to frame a good picture and ensuring you have good settings is the best way of getting a picture people want to look at. A crappy image which is three times the size of your laptop screen has loads of megapixels, but it's still just a crappy image.
5 mega pixels are capable of printing good quality images at A4 size, and are more than capable of really good images on an HD phone or computer monitor. I have had my HTC One for 5 months now and I still marvel at how good the images it takes are. I have been a keen amateur photographer since I was 10, when my brother gave me my first SLR film camera (which was totally manual). I have had three iPhones, which take great photos, a Galaxy Note, a Galaxy S3 (which took really nice pictures too) and of course the HTC One. The HTC takes the best pictures of all my smartphones, no doubt. As a typical user, I take pictures every day, for work, and on holiday it is usually my main camera when we go hiking or walking in the woods etc. I do a lot of stuff outdoors, and also visit historical sites/museums and so on where there is often poor light. The HTC One's brilliant ability to take good pictures with low light is great. People who say it takes crap pictures in daylight... well, my one doesn't. It sounds to me like people are just parroting what they read in reviews, where they have slightly misinterpreted comparisons with the S4.
WHY THE HTC ONE IS MORE LIKELY TO DELIVER GOOD PICTURES THAN MOST OTHER SMARTPHONES:
One of the most overlooked and, in my mind, most important features of the HTC's camera is its ability to take great pictures FAST. I use the excellent Dynamic Notifications app and set an upswipe to switch to camera. If I see something I need to take a photo of quickly, I can get into the camera app and take a photo really quickly. The Samsung takes at least 4 times longer to take a photo, and that can literally make ALL the difference. And, because it doesn't use flash much I can bang out multiple shots incredibly quickly. It is a huge advantage. Combine that with OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation), which most other camera lack (except Lumia's and the N5) and you have a truly great camera. Also, if you have an HTC One I really urge you to experiment with the cameras settings - they really can make a huge difference. By adjusting the light settings for indoor/outdoor/night scenarios you really can see a big difference.
I often get people expressing amazement at some of the pictures I have taken on my HTC One - they don't think a smartphone camera can take such good pictures. But it CAN.
TIME TO RE-APPRAISE YOUR THINKING.
Look, megapixel count, flash type, sensor size, aperture are all smartphone camera features which can affect the quality of a photo. But by far the most important thing is learning how to take well-framed, interesting photos. Experiment with your cameras settings - HTC have given you a camera which can give you stunning results, it's up to you to learn how to use it. My first SLR was completely manual, I had to learn how to set aperture and shutter speed manually against taking a light reading. If you are serious about wanting to take good smartphone photos then read up on taking good photos - there are literally hundreds of websites out there about it. Learn your settings. And forget about megapixels. Oh, and accept that all smartphones can only take certain types of photos - if your going birdspotting it's unlikely you're going to be using a smartphone camera!
Once you have mastered the camera, THEN think about filters and effects. Instead of hammering a filter because everybody else is, experiment. And when you get really good, I can recommend the Adobe PS Touch app for knocking out amazing images on-the-go. Of course, using full blown photoshop on an image opens up a whole new world of possibilities...
So, I say to you "forget all the hype, megapixels and what other people tell you - read up on your HTC Ones camera settings, experiment and enjoy. You really DO have one of the best cameras on a smartphone!"
Cheers!
Robsa
Look, I feel sorry for people who may have faulty HTC One's which don't give excellent picture quality, but MY HTC One takes brilliant pictures in daylight, twilight, lowlight, any light. Most peoples' do, the faulty ones are a very small minority. I have had 2 HTC Ones and both had perfect cameras (I accidentally killed one). I just thought I would say a few words to those who may be thinking about buying an HTC One, but have been put off by talk of the camera being sub-standard.
It ISN'T - it is an excellent camera. (If you don't believe me, ask Brian Klug at Anandtech: AnandTech | The HTC One Review)
Here's WHY:
Ultrapixels?
Some people have some strange ideas about good pictures and the effect megapixels/sensor size/pixel size on sensor have on taking a picture. Adrianb is correct in saying that ultrapixels have no bearing on the amount of light being delivered to the sensor; the light let in is controlled by the lens and the camera's aperture. But, for any given sensor size a certain number of light photons can be picked up by the pixels on the sensor. What HTC did, when they had space for a larger sensor, is, instead of cramming more small pixels on, they made the pixels larger. This means that each given pixel has more photons hitting it than, say, the Galaxy S3. Because of this, in a low-light situation, the light that is available will provide more photons to each pixel than a normal sensor, so it has better sensitivity which can be taken advantage of by the software.
BUT... MORE PIXELS = BETTER PICTURES, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT?
Well, no, not really. To be honest, the only reason why anyone really wants more pixels these days on a smartphone camera is for cropping (so you just take a photo in the rough direction of the subject and then cut the image down after). In other words, the photo you took wasn't well framed, or in some situations where light is good enough, you can use it to act like a digital zoom (this is what the Lumia 1020 does I think). Taking time to frame a good picture and ensuring you have good settings is the best way of getting a picture people want to look at. A crappy image which is three times the size of your laptop screen has loads of megapixels, but it's still just a crappy image.
5 mega pixels are capable of printing good quality images at A4 size, and are more than capable of really good images on an HD phone or computer monitor. I have had my HTC One for 5 months now and I still marvel at how good the images it takes are. I have been a keen amateur photographer since I was 10, when my brother gave me my first SLR film camera (which was totally manual). I have had three iPhones, which take great photos, a Galaxy Note, a Galaxy S3 (which took really nice pictures too) and of course the HTC One. The HTC takes the best pictures of all my smartphones, no doubt. As a typical user, I take pictures every day, for work, and on holiday it is usually my main camera when we go hiking or walking in the woods etc. I do a lot of stuff outdoors, and also visit historical sites/museums and so on where there is often poor light. The HTC One's brilliant ability to take good pictures with low light is great. People who say it takes crap pictures in daylight... well, my one doesn't. It sounds to me like people are just parroting what they read in reviews, where they have slightly misinterpreted comparisons with the S4.
WHY THE HTC ONE IS MORE LIKELY TO DELIVER GOOD PICTURES THAN MOST OTHER SMARTPHONES:
One of the most overlooked and, in my mind, most important features of the HTC's camera is its ability to take great pictures FAST. I use the excellent Dynamic Notifications app and set an upswipe to switch to camera. If I see something I need to take a photo of quickly, I can get into the camera app and take a photo really quickly. The Samsung takes at least 4 times longer to take a photo, and that can literally make ALL the difference. And, because it doesn't use flash much I can bang out multiple shots incredibly quickly. It is a huge advantage. Combine that with OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation), which most other camera lack (except Lumia's and the N5) and you have a truly great camera. Also, if you have an HTC One I really urge you to experiment with the cameras settings - they really can make a huge difference. By adjusting the light settings for indoor/outdoor/night scenarios you really can see a big difference.
I often get people expressing amazement at some of the pictures I have taken on my HTC One - they don't think a smartphone camera can take such good pictures. But it CAN.
TIME TO RE-APPRAISE YOUR THINKING.
Look, megapixel count, flash type, sensor size, aperture are all smartphone camera features which can affect the quality of a photo. But by far the most important thing is learning how to take well-framed, interesting photos. Experiment with your cameras settings - HTC have given you a camera which can give you stunning results, it's up to you to learn how to use it. My first SLR was completely manual, I had to learn how to set aperture and shutter speed manually against taking a light reading. If you are serious about wanting to take good smartphone photos then read up on taking good photos - there are literally hundreds of websites out there about it. Learn your settings. And forget about megapixels. Oh, and accept that all smartphones can only take certain types of photos - if your going birdspotting it's unlikely you're going to be using a smartphone camera!
Once you have mastered the camera, THEN think about filters and effects. Instead of hammering a filter because everybody else is, experiment. And when you get really good, I can recommend the Adobe PS Touch app for knocking out amazing images on-the-go. Of course, using full blown photoshop on an image opens up a whole new world of possibilities...
So, I say to you "forget all the hype, megapixels and what other people tell you - read up on your HTC Ones camera settings, experiment and enjoy. You really DO have one of the best cameras on a smartphone!"
Cheers!
Robsa
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